The newly revealed LA 2028 track and field schedule has stunned athletes and fans alike. The Olympic Games will commence on July 15, 2028, and will end with the men’s marathon final on July 30. With marquee events like the women’s 100m and 4×100m relay stretching deep into the program, stars such as Sha’Carri Richardson and Femke Bol are preparing for a Games unlike any they’ve experienced before. At first glance, the expanded layout seems like a bold new twist for fans and athletes alike. But a deeper look reveals a far bigger concern hiding in plain sight.

For sprinters like Richardson, this scheduling tweak is a full-scale shift. Back at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the preliminary rounds and heats happened one day before the semifinals and finals. But at LA 2028, the entire 100m dash will conclude in just one day. Meanwhile, the women’s 4×100m relay lands deep into the second week. This means that the sprinters must remain on site, locked in, and in peak condition far longer than traditional championship timelines. 

This extended window might seem manageable on paper, but the cost implications are enormous, especially for foreign athletes like Femke Bol. 

Let’s take the 2024 Olympic Games for reference. According to the Paris Tourist Office, the average hotel rates spiked from $182 to $803. And that was a time when two-thirds of the 160,000 hotel rooms were yet to enter the market in the Greater Paris area. But if we look at Los Angeles, the city is already known for expensive hospitality, and it is projected to see similar or even worse surges as demand peaks across two full weeks of track action.

For athletes based in the USA, the blow is somewhat softened. Team USA’s massive funding, access to local training bases, and absence of major travel costs provide a cushion. But for international stars, this becomes a logistical and financial nightmare. Extended hotel stays mean higher costs for federations, physios, coaches, analysts, and support staff. Smaller European, Caribbean, African, and Asian federations may struggle to fund 15–18 days of athlete support at inflated LA prices. And unlike domestic athletes, foreign runners can’t easily commute or recover in familiar environments. They’ll be locked into costly Olympic arrangements far from home.

And if the athletes are stuck in such a nightmare, what would the fans and journalists do? How many can actually afford to stay for 16 days in LA for the Olympics? That’s why the concern isn’t merely about the repechage format. The deeper issue is structural. With rising hospitality costs and longer time on the ground, LA28 risks becoming a game where financial endurance matters almost as much as athletic endurance.

But the rising hospitality costs aren’t the only problems for the athletes this time. 

How does LA 2028 squash the athletes’ dreams of winning multiple golds?

The idea of winning two or more medals in the same Olympic Games is a rare and difficult feat for sure. And some stars have the potential to do it. Take Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, for example. She managed to capture three gold medals at the 2025 World Championships. And the fans expect her to do the same at the LA Olympics. But the schedule for the Games has been perceived as a giant hurdle for many. 

A lot of fans believed that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone might claim two golds, in 400m flat and 400m hurdles, at the 2028 Olympics. But even if she manages to push through the 400m semifinals and 400m hurdles first round, she’d have to choose between the 400m hurdles semifinals and the 400m finals. That’s because both events are on the same date and in the same session. 

For long-distance stars like Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Sifan Hassan, the layout is especially unforgiving. The 10,000 m final on July 15 is immediately followed by 1500 m round one the next morning, giving athletes barely 12–14 hours between one of the most punishing races on the program and the start of another. Recovering from a 10,000m all-out championship effort requires days, not hours. This makes it nearly impossible to contest at full strength at the 1500m opener. The pattern continues deeper into the schedule. The 1500m final on July 19 is followed by 5000m round one on July 21, leaving virtually no room for proper training, reset, or recovery. In effect, LA28 forces middle- and long-distance stars to choose between pursuing history or preserving health.

And for Sha’Carri Richardson and her fellow sprinters, things are pretty tough. Prelims in the morning, semis in the evening, and a final hour later leave athletes in a constant cycle of racing, cooling down, refueling, and warming up, with almost no margin for error. All that, paired with the high hospitality costs, is a huge headache for the athletics community.